Keurig is known for its single serve K-cup coffee machines. But since then, it has expanded to a new type of single-serve machine that offers a new at home coffee experience. The Keurig Rivo 500 Cappuccino and Latte System is definitely worth your consideration.

What Is The Keurig Rivo 500 Cappuccino and Latte System? How Is It Different Than Other Keurig Coffee Machines?

The Keurig Rivo 500 is a single-serve ESPRESSO machine, and that’s mainly how it’s different than other Keurig machines, which are single-serve COFFEE machines. The Rivo 500 prepares espresso, cappuccinos and lattes with a touch of a button. It includes an automatic milk frother that prepares hot and yummy frothy milk that pours right into your shot of espresso, to make a delicious cup of gourmet coffee in a few minutes.

Can The Keurig Rivo 500 make espresso and ice coffee? It sure can! Although it’s called “Cappuccino and Latte system” it performs everything an espresso machine does, only automatically with a push of a button.

What Type of Capsules (pods) Does The Keurig Rivo 500 Use?

The Rivo 500 system used special pods called Lavazza Rivo Coffee Packs. There’s definitely different than Keurig’s K-Cups, so please don’t try to brew those with a Rivo machine, it won’t work.

The pods are available in four varieties: Classico, Delicato, Intenso and Decaf. All pods are espresso pods, remember the Rivo 500 is an espresso machine. The pods can be purchased from Keurig’s website, Amazon.com and other retail stores.

Who Should Buy The Rivo 500 Cappuccino and Latte System?

If you’re looking to enjoy coffee house style gourmet coffee drinks, this will be your favorite machine. You can create any variety of espresso and milk drinks with ease, in very little time and with practically no-mess and clean up required.

Right now, the Keurig Rivo only makes espresso and espresso based drinks. Your best shot at a regular coffee would be to prepare Americano, which is a shot or two of Espresso with hot water to fill the rest of the cup. If you’re looking for a single-serve machine that prepares regular coffee, check out the new Nespresso VertuoLine , CBTL Kaldi or a K-Cups Keurig Machine.

Can the Rivo use K-Cup coffee pods?

No, it uses it’s own Rivo coffee pods made by Lavazza.

Can You Use Your Own Coffee with Keurig Rivo?

No. Unlike K-Cups, the Rivo does not have refillable coffee pods that allows you to use your own coffee ground.

Can You Make Hot Chocolate or Tea with the Rivo 500?

There are no hot chocolate or tea capsules (the CBTL Kaldi has those). You can use the automatic milk frother to prepare hot creamy milk, and then you can add chocolate syrup, shavings or powder separately.

Where Can I Buy the Keurig Rivo Cups/Packs?

They can be purchased online at Amazon.com. They’re also available at Lavazza’s online store.

What Is The Difference Between Keurig Rivo vs. Nespresso?

Both the Rivo and Nespresso (pictured above is the CitiZ with built-in frother) are single-serve espresso systems with the ability to make you delicious espresso based drinks with a push of a button. But how do you choose between them? There’s probably one factor that will make all the difference for you: the available coffee capsules for each system.

Nespresso only uses Nespresso capsules, and it’s available in a range of around 20 or more variety.

Since Nespresso is a popular system, there’s also a wide range of Nespresso-compatible coffee capsules, those are capsules made for Nespresso machines but by other brands. There are also refillable capsules that you can use with any coffee you want.

As for Rivo, the variety of coffee capsules available is still small. There are no refillable pods or compatible pods. So you should only get a Rivo if you’re a fan of Lavazza coffee.

The popularity of coffee is continually rising, symbolically displayed by the many coffee shops popping up on our street corners and the need to have access to a variety of coffee conveniently in our own homes is growing. For those with a need for a complex coffee experience there are a host of machines that offer a complete yet time consuming way to make a cup of coffee. For those who want convenience and variety then single serve coffeemakers offer stylish, easy to use solution.

We’ve already established the fact that Nespresso is one of the best single-serve espresso machines available right now on the market. But, as you go on to find a Nespresso machines, you’ll find so many models that are seemingly the same, but have different names. So what we’ll do here is break it all down for you; the best models, the difference between them, how they work, and everything in between.

Before we get into the details, there this one thing you should keep in mind:

All Nespresso machines basically work the same way. The differences come in few features but not in the overall how of it works.

Now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s explore how a Nespresso machine work (video shows the Nespresso Pixie in action):

A Nesprsso machine, or a single-serve machine for that matter, is the easiest, most convenient way to make a shot of espresso or a nice cup of coffee. How it works is very simple:

You’ll insert a coffee capsule into the machine. The capsule has a pre-measured amount of coffee that will make you a perfect shot every time.

Once the capsule is in place, you’ll press the button for your desired drink: Espresso or Lungo.

The machine will automatically use as much water needed for your desired drink.

And within seconds, you’ll have your drink ready!

We told you it’s simple!

The Most Popular Nespresso Machines

Nespresso has two lines of single-serve espresso machines:

Nespresso OriginalLine, which is the original Nespresso machine that brews espresso capsules. Models in this line include: Nespresso CitiZ, Pixie, Inissia, Essenza Mini.

Nespresso Vertuoline, which is the first kind by Nespresso to make espresso as well as coffee, and it uses capsules different than OriginalLine. Models include: Evoluo and Vertuo.

We will discuss the difference between each machine in details in a later post. But to give you an idea, the difference comes in features like:

Different water tank sizes.

Difference in machine size and design.

Milk frother, either built-in or stand-alone.

These differences can affect how you experience your Nespresso machines. They’ll also affect the price of the machine, so if you’re on a budget, it will have say in which one is the right one for you.

Nespresso Coffee Capsule Availability:

Of course, you’ll be interested to know how available are the Nespresso capsules to you before you commit to the machine.

Great news! They’re quite available!

You have many choices at buying the capsules, either directly from Nespresso (where you can even set up automatic shipments!) or many Vendors you’ll find online, including on Amazon and eBay.

If you are opting for a Nespresso OriginalLine machine, these machines are compatible with Nespresso capsules, refillable capsules and Nespresso-compatible capsules, which are capsules made from brands other than Nespresso. However, if you’re going with a VertuoLine machine, capsules for these machines are available from Nespresso only. They’re available as espresso capsules and coffee capsules (which contain more coffee grounds to brew a larger cup).

Which Nespresso Machine Is Right One For You?

That is actually a question that we can’t answer for you. What we can do, however, is compare the machines for you and let you know the features of each machine, and that will help you make a better decision!

Here are our top articles our Nespresso to help you with your decision:

You’ll never know what convenience truly is until you’ve tried brewing your coffee using a single-serve machine. A truly innovative way to brew delicious coffee drinks at home with a single touch of a button, single-serve machines are something you’ll definitely want to consider.

Should You Buy a Single-Serve Espresso Machine?

Here’s the thing about single-serve espresso machines; while they’re truly great, quick, and mess-free which is a major plus… they’re not for everyone. If you’re an advanced coffee drinker, you prefers to customize the grind/temperature or other features of their espresso, you’d prefer a manual pump espresso machine over a single-serve.

As single-serve machines use pods, the coffee has already been ground and freshly sealed. You’ll have the option to customize the volume of your coffee, and you’ll have the choice of many different coffee blends/strength. Choosing a single-serve espresso machine will also mean committing to one brand of coffee, since most machines use their own coffee pods exclusively.

So, before you decide on a single serve machine, you’ll need to check the following:

Do you like the selection of coffee blends it has?

Are the coffee pods easily available to you?

Does it give you the option to customize your coffee?

Now we’ve covered that, let’s have a look at the best single-serve espresso machines currently available…

Nespresso VertuoPlus Espresso and Coffee Maker:

Nespresso VertuoPlus belongs to Nespresso’s VertuoLine machines that are able to brew both espresso and coffee. These machines use differently designed capsules available for espresso and coffee drinks. Unlike espresso machines that use pumps to force water through the capsules, VertuoPlus uses Centrifusion technology that rapidly spins the capsules while saturating it with water, which ensures better extraction of the coffee. You can read our full post about Nespresso VertuoPlus here.

Nespresso is currently one of the hottest single-serve espresso machines available in the market. It has the most diverse range when it comes to machines and coffee capsules. It’s perfect for making espresso as well as other coffee drinks like Cappuccinos, Lattes or Macchiatos. However, you will need to bundle it with an electric milk frother, which comes built-in in some models like the Nespresso CitiZ pictured above. The CitiZ is an OriginalLine Nespresso machine, which means it uses the original design of Nespresso capsules, it is also compatible with capsules from brands other than Nespresso.

If you’re not crazy about the idea of using capsules and prefer to use your favorite coffee ground instead, this machine from Mr Coffee makes an excellent choice. It is still a simple push-button operation, but you’ll manually load up and tamp your coffee ground to extract the coffee. The milk frother is built-in, it heats, froths and pours the milk into your cup automatically. The control buttons have the options to select espresso, cappuccino or latte and customize the sizes.

The Ninja Coffee Bar single-serve is another great option for someone who wants to do it pod-free and use coffee ground instead. This system does it all, it makes regular coffee and classic coffee drinks like cappuccino, latte and more. But, it’s important that we note that the Ninja Coffee Bar does not make an authentic shot of espresso like machines we featured above. Instead, it makes a strong and short brew of coffee that resembles a shot of espresso. The built-in frother makes it easy to create froth for your coffee creations. You can read a detailed post about Ninja Coffee Makers here.

Which Of Those Machines Should You Go For?

As we said in the beginning of this post, if you’re going to choose a single-serve espresso maker that uses pods/capsules, make sure that you like the machine’s selection of capsules.

If you want something that can make both espresso and a regular cup of coffee, choose between the Nespresso VertuoPlus or Ninja Coffee Bar. However, the Nespresso VertuoPlus limits you to using their capsules, and Ninja Coffee Bar on the other hand, uses coffee ground, so you’re free to use whichever coffee you like.

Mr Coffee Cafe Barista is somewhat in the middle. It does not limit you to any kind of coffee capsules, but it can only make espresso and espresso based drinks. It does not make a long cup of coffee.

Nespresso CitiZ is another great option for making espresso and espresso based drinks only. Although it uses capsules, the choice of capsules here is a lot more than Nespresso’s VertuoLine, since this machine can work with Nespresso-compatible capsules available from many brands.